Up to the Jobs?

The King of Apple gets Punk’d.

For cult-of-Apple devotees—Applets, let’s call them—Friday, Aug. 16, may be a dark day. That’s when Jobs,
a new biopic starring Ashton Kutcher as Apple co-founder and tech
messiah Steve Jobs, will be released. The model-turned-stoner star
apparently worked hard to prepare himself for the role and was even
hospitalized after trying to subsist on Jobs’ famous all-fruit diet. The
film wasn’t screened for Portland critics—never a good sign—and
everybody’s perplexed by the decision to cast the star of Dude, Where’s My Car? as one of the biggest figures of the 20th century. But are the two really so different? Here’s how they stack up.

Childhood

Jobs: Sold boxes that broke into the phone system; made $6,000.

Kutcher: Got drunk and broke into his own high school; lost all his scholarships.

Dropped out...

Jobs: ...of Reed College because his family was poor.

Kutcher: ...of state college to be a model and play a highschooler on TV.

Early Career

Jobs: Designed complicated electronics as a teenager; co-founded Apple with Steve Wozniak at age 21.

Kutcher: Has played the role of “dumb boyfriend” in 16 of his 22 films.

Spiritual Beliefs

Jobs: Spent seven months in India tripping on LSD; became a Zen Buddhist for the rest of his life.

Kutcher: Was raised Catholic; got really into Jewish mysticism and now spends a lot of time in Israel.

Life Mantra

Jobs:“My job is not to be easy on people. My job is to make them better.”

Kutcher:“Modeling is the best because you have to look hot, which comes easy to me, you know. I’m blessed with that.”

Whoops!

Jobs: Spent two years denying paternity because he was “sterile and infertile”; went on to father three more children.

Kutcher: Wore brownface in a PopChips ad that played
to Indian stereotypes; was publicly asked to apologize by fellow tech
investor Anil Dash.

Fans Say...

Jobs: “He was a historical figure on the scale of a Thomas Edison or a Henry Ford.” (Walt Mossberg, The Wall Street Journal)

Kutcher: “All you gotta do is watch The Butterfly Effect to understand he’s an excellent actor.” (fan on IMDB.com)

Critics Say...

Jobs: “Jobs was like dynamite. Dynamite clears
paths, but it also destroys everything around it. [Bill] Gates evolved
from an asshole into a human being, Jobs remained an ass.” (Verinder
Syal, business consultant)

Kutcher:“ Did nobody notice that Kutcher seems to be sleepwalking through the whole thing?” (The Seattle Times on The Butterfly Effect)